Many of the characters populating their novels have become household words, cultural landmarks in their own right, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, David Copperfield, and Oliver Twist. It is as if we have known them life-long. In this course we take a look at the lives and works of both authors, comparing, and celebrating them, in their use of use language, in their humor, and both, of course, are master humorists-in their evocation of character, and in their evocation and evaluation of the social world in which they find themselves.